100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #6

Monday, July 27-Sunday, August 1, 2009 * Days #26-#30

Choose one of your characters, preferably one you need to develop. Take 15 minutes in a quiet setting to sit down with your character and interview her/him. You may do this however you best can: writing everything down cold, thinking through the interview and jotting down notes, speaking aloud in the voice of your character (you may get strange looks from other people if you do this in a public place), etc. Be sure to ask her/him important questions (such as goals, desires, and fears) which will deepen your novel and further plot development; but don't forget to ask silly questions too!

Then, post either part of the interview, or what your most startling discovery was. Don't forget to post your points!

Successfully complete this prompt and you earn the rank of Journalist. (Add this to your previous titles of: 1. Copycat, 2. Wordsmith, 3. Adaptor of Film, 4. Mad Fish, 5. Shrinking Adverb.)

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #5

Monday, July 20-Sunday, July26, 2009 * Days #21-#25

Revise one paragraph of your novel or story so that each sentence does the following:

1. relies on strong, specific nouns and verbs

2. varies in structure

(Read the first page of Louise Erdrich's novel for a good example of this.)

Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Shrinking Adverb. (Add this to your previous titles of: 1. Copycat, 2. Wordsmith, 3. Adaptor of Film, 4. Mad Fish.)

Remember to post your points at the end of each week.

And keep writing! Even one day is better than none!

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #4

Monday, July 13 – Sunday, July 19, 2009 * Days #16 - #20

Pick a scene from a book that has a particularly high amount of emotion or passion. It can be your current project, but I suggest not using your end climax. Then rewrite the most intense part, but switch the mood. example: Romantic=Horrific, Sad=Happy, Anger=Joy, vice versa, etc. You may change words around, or tweak what is said, as long as it is done so in the same style of said book. And then, somewhere, include a fish as a prop.

Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Mad Fish. (Add this to your previous titles of: 1. Copycat, 2. Wordsmith, 3. Adaptor of Film.)

Remember to post your points at the end of each week.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: PRIZES!

Starting with week #3 (see subsequent posting for this week's prompt), we're going to have drawings every once in a while.

Here's how it works. Each week, all of us write and all of us earn points (even MMS Society officers can participate):

1 pt. for each day that you write for a minimum of 15 minutes (you can earn a maximum of 5 pts. since our goal is to write 5 days a week))

1 pt. for completing the week's writing prompt

1 pt. for exceeding our expectations in some way (writing for an extra15 minutes one day; writing for 6 days instead of 5; writing for 20 hours; etc.)

Then, post your total points (out of the 7 pts. possible) by the following Monday at noon, and MMS Society will turn each point into a ticket. That's right, we will hand-write your online name on a ticket, which we'll deposit in a container. Every once in a while, we'll draw a lucky writer's name and award a prize. And we'll certainly award prizes at the end of week #20, so you'll want to earn as many tickets as possible before then. (Tickets will accumulate from week to week. The only time one will be removed is if that person wins a prize.)

To kick things off, we are going to draw a ticket on Tuesday, 14 July. The prize will be an Amazon.com gift certificate, so that the hard-working writer can purchase a film or novel (in honor of this week's prompt) for a bit of R&R. The gift certificate will be emailed to you; you can provide us with your email address if you win.

So, what are you doing reading this blog? Get writing! (We have a rather large roll of tickets to use up.)

But first, it might be a good idea to read the instructions for week #3.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #3

Monday, July 6 – Sunday July 12, 2009 * Days #11 - #15

This week's prompt: Take a short sequence from one of your favorite movies, and re-write it as a novel. Pay special attention to the camera shots and where it cuts, as though the movie would be made shot-by-shot from what you had written. So if the sequence begins as a wide-shot of a suburb street, be sure to describe what the camera takes in--the trees and houses in rows, etc.

Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Adaptor of Film.

This week's goal: Complete the prompt (1 point possible) and continue to write for at least 15-minutes a day on 5 separate days of the week (5 points possible). (If you exceed our goal in some way, you can earn 1 additional point.) Remember to post your total at the end of the week, along with any of your writing, thoughts, ideas.